Shag rocks

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Shag rocks
The Shag Rocks in January 2016
The Shag Rocks in January 2016
Waters South Atlantic
archipelago South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Geographical location 53 ° 33 ′  S , 42 ° 1 ′  W Coordinates: 53 ° 33 ′  S , 42 ° 1 ′  W
Shag Rocks (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands)
Shag rocks
Number of islands 7 (including Black Rock )
Total land area 0.2 km²
Residents uninhabited
Global location of Shag Rocks
Global location of Shag Rocks

The Shag Rocks (from English shag , 'Scharbe, Kormoran' ) are a group of islands in the South Atlantic . They are located around 250 km west of South Georgia and around 1000 km east of the Falkland Islands . They extend over an area of ​​around 200 km². The group consists of six rocky islands and belongs politically to the British overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands , but is also claimed by Argentina. Black Rock is 16 km southeast of Shag Rocks .

Geography, geology, climate

The six rocky islands protrude steeply from the water and reach a height of almost 75 meters. The total land area of ​​the archipelago is only 20 hectares (0.2 km²).

Shag Rocks and Black Rock are, like many islands in the South Antilles , which connect Tierra del Fuego with the Antarctic Peninsula , of volcanic origin.

No people live on the islands. The islands are occasionally visited for scientific or tourist reasons. Due to the very harsh climate, however, tourist visits are very rare. The temperatures fluctuate between −5 and 15 ° C. The location in the middle of the southern Atlantic in the so-called Furious Fifties ensures year-round, violent and cold westerly winds.

Flora and fauna

No larger plants grow on the rocky subsoil of the island; Mosses and lichens cover the ground. Brown algae grow at the foot of the rocks . The bird world is abundant, especially with whale birds and albatrosses . Named the islands after the occurring there in their thousands Königsscharben , English Imperial Shags , a species of cormorants .

history

The islands were possibly discovered by José de la Llana as early as 1762 and named after the name of his ship Aurora . To date, however, it is not certain whether the Shag Rocks were actually meant by the Aurora Islands . The archipelago was rediscovered in 1819 by the American seal hunter James Sheffield on board the Hersilia ; he gave the island group its current name. The first landing on the islands was in 1956 from an Argentine helicopter. Argentina makes claims to the island group, also known as Islas Aurora , but the rocks themselves were not occupied in the 1982 Falklands War .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolf Arntz: Troubled lake and chinstrap penguins (PDF; 109 kB), Weekly report for RV Polarstern expedition ANT-XIX / 5, report no. 2 (April 14, 2002), Alfred Wegener Institute, accessed on May 24, 2016 .

Web links

Commons : Shag Rocks  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

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